Ryden Scarnato is a Staff Writer at CBR, where he continues to express his unique perspective on popular culture, which all comes from a place of love for the material.
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2026 will be another massive year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Avengers: Doomsday leading the slate as the most significant project. The upcoming crossover film will feature the likes of Steve Rogers, Thor, the Fantastic Four, the New Avengers, Sam Wilson’s Avengers, the Wakandans, and the return of Fox’s X-Men characters. The film will also star Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, one of the most eagerly anticipated elements based on the concept alone. However, as highly anticipated as Avengers: Doomsday is, there is just as much excitement for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has also sparked many rumors and speculation.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will also feature major MCU characters, including The Punisher, the Hulk, and the return of Scorpion, but the biggest mystery surrounding the film has been with Sadie Sink’s character. At this point, Sink has been rumored to play every character from Firestar to Mayday Parker. However, recent rumors about Spider-Man: Brand New Day suggest Sink could be playing the character many thought she would play from the start, which would be a massive addition to the MCU.
Damage Control Appears To Be After Mutants
Spider-Man: Homecoming was the first solo film for the wall-crawler in the MCU, and it added a lot to the world. One of the most significant contributions Spider-Man: Homecoming made from the jump was the introduction of Damage Control, tasked with cleaning up New York City following the battle in the first Avengers film. Damage Control would go on to play a part in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Ms. Marvel.
Now, a rumor from Cosmic Circus indicates that not only will Damage Control play a crucial role in the next Spider-Man film, but it also claims Severence breakout star Tramell Tillman will play the new head of the department. Moreover, it seems Damage Control will be hunting down a new metahuman played by Sink. The rumor also states that The Punisher will protect Sink’s superpowered character.
Sadie Sink Could End Up Playing Jean Grey After All
With the latest rumor pointing to Sink playing a new metahuman on the run from Damage Control, the idea of her playing Jean Grey seems very much back in play. Before news of Sink joining the Spider-Man: Brand New Day cast, Jeff Sneider reported she was the frontrunner to play Jean Grey in the MCU.
Deadline also revealed in November that Sink will reprise her mysterious MCU role in Avengers: Secret Wars. All the signs seem to point to Sink playing Jean Grey, who would be the first piece of the MCU’s rebooted X-Men team introduced in the franchise.
Thunderbolts* director Jake Schrier is helming the X-Men reboot that will likely release after Avengers: Secret Wars, but Marvel Studios is notorious for introducing major characters in other films before their solo ventures, like Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, who debuted in Captain America: Civil War.
Introducing Jean Grey as the first X-Men mutant in the main MCU in Spider-Man: Brand New Day would still be a surprising move, since the two characters don’t have an iconic team-up in the comics, but they have certainly crossed paths.
Furthermore, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Secret Wars may position Jean Grey as the face of the X-Men’s next cinematic era in the MCU. The Fox franchise has infamously dropped the ball on adapting “The Dark Phoenix Saga” twice, so Marvel Studios doing the iconic storyline justice could be a priority in its reboot.
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Putting Jean Grey front and center in the MCU’s X-Men reboot would also pave the way for a significant role for Cyclops. Scott Summers was another character in the Fox films who didn’t live up to the source material.
Wolverine was the most prominent face of Fox’s X-Men films, and Marvel Studios turning to a powerful female character like Jean Grey, who has a complex comic book history, would be an easy way to distance itself from what came before, and establishing that early on in Spider-Man: Brand New Day now makes more sense than ever.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
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Superhero
Action
Adventure
Release Date July 31, 2026
Director Destin Daniel Cretton
Writers Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee
Prequel(s) Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home
Franchise(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man
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Genres Superhero, Action, Adventure
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